/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

>99% of artists will never "make it" in terms of a career or profession, since the demand isn't large enough for the supply. There's a tremendous amount of good, even fantastic, artists out there, but anyone contracting artists already has a list of names, and will likely never know/have no need for yet another.
>That's okay, though, since the whole point of "making it" is to finally achieve a happiness with what you create. All else is irrelevant once you reach that point.
>The best way to learn how to draw is the way you enjoy. If you find grinding practice sketches boring, then don't do them. Just draw what you want instead; you can always go back and redraw old/crappy work in the future.
>There is no silver bullet to learning art, no magic book or tutorial that will guarantee skill for everyone. You must find what works best yourself, for you are the only one who can know that.
>Backgrounds aren't any more or less difficult than characters/figures. It's just often that artists learn how to draw the latter before the former, resulting in an undeveloped skill. Both can be just as easy as each other, but just like multi-character pictures, it will always be more time-consuming.
>Work back to front on characters, and front to back on backgrounds.
>If you are a traditional artist, buy a couple aluminum T-squares: one for the length of your sketchpad, the other for the width. They're insanely useful.
>Work the whole page instead of going from detail to detail. Instead of completely finishing the face before moving onto an arm, work away at the entire body in "layers." Construction lines, silhouette, anatomy features, clothing, details.
>Your eraser is as much a drawing tool as the graphite of your pencil.
>Don't be ashamed of cutting corners or using special tools to make it easier to achieve your desired results; you're only hurting yourself if you do. Use everything: experiment, have fun.